Sociocracy in Schools
“I’m so glad to have found sociocracy- which is democracy, as it could be- to help with the subtle art of compromise.”
Hope Wilder, Pathfinder Community School
For classrooms
Tools and processes that support more democracy and participation in classrooms
For entire schools
How can everyone’s voice sing the same song – each in their different way?
Happy announcement!
We’re excited to announce that SoFA has been selected to receive a grant to help develop sociocracy in schools!
We are hopeful that with the added energy and resources, SoFA can be a leader in supporting bringing sociocracy to the next generation.
Want more information? Contact Hope: [email protected]
This video shows a consent decision at a school using sociocracy about whether or not to rent a cotton candy (candyfloss) machine for a celebration. Watch how the students resolve objections and come up with a solution everyone can live with. From the film School Circles.
For Classrooms
Open Sociocratic elections for classrooms
A brochure for teachers who are ready to try consent decision making instead of an election using majority vote.
Self-determination only with co-determination
An article about the importance of participation in decision making in education.
By Simona Zäh, Unico School, Switzerland
Consent decision-making for student voice
“The Conversation Series – Episode 1 – Audrey Cheynut – “Consent decision-making for student voice” by Learn to Change
For Entire Schools
Who is already using sociocracy to run their school?
Note: this list is FAR from complete! Email [email protected] to help us make it more complete (see map). Another resource to find sociocratic schools is Wondering School with a map.
Australia
- Enkindle School (case study, presentation)
Austria
Chile
France
- Ecole Démocratique Ebroïcienne
- École Nouvelle de la Rize
- La Croisee des Chemins (no longer in operation, case study)
- La Ferme des Enfants in Ardèche
Germany
Netherlands
- Basisschool makED – Make Education
- De Ontdekking
- De School
- De Vrije Ruimte
- Democratische School De Ruimte
- DOE – Democratisch Onderwijs Eindhoven
- Guus Kieft School
- Kenniscentrum Kosmos Gronigen
- LIFE
- LOS Sociocratische Leeromgeving (case study)
- Plan B Sociocratische School
- Stichting Vivere Democratisch Onderwijs
- VO De Vallei
- Zorgboerderij De Mieden
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States
- Austin Waldorf School, TX
- Desert Star School, AZ
- Hershey Montessori School, PA
- High Mowing School, NH
- Morey Flextech High School, MI (presentation)
- New Roots Charter School, NY
- Pacem School, VT
- Pathfinder Community School, NC (no longer in operation, presentation)
- Rainbow Community School, NC (study)
“Lectica has tested many other private schools – very good ones – and also public schools of high socio-economic level, but we have never seen scores like Rainbow. […] Rainbow students have remarkable ‘perspectival’ abilities to take the perspective of others, a core aspect of transformative learning.” Source article
How does one organize a whole school in circles?
Click through the images to see how others do it.
General Resources for Learning and Implementation
Meeting posters
Having a visual makes every meeting easier to follow.
Use them in your meeting room, or laminate and bring along.
Study group curriculum
The most affordable and easy way to train your all team!
4×2-hour sessions with exercises, readings, handouts, perfect for groups of 5-8 people. Video-led – just turn on the video and learn! By donation/coaching on a sliding scale.
Talk to a real human!
You’re not alone on this journey! We can connect you to others who have done it before, or talk you through a strategy that works for your particular circumstances.
Sociocracy Handbook
Written by the co-founders of Sociocracy For All. 300 pages.
All Education-Related Resources in Sociocracy For All
Collaboration Shapes Education and Young Leaders
by Lisa Praeg Strengthen youth leadership - Open election of class representatives as initiative Do you remember the last time you participated in a democratic election? What did you feel when you put down your vote? Have you been elected, or was someone elected for...
Lessons Learned on Conflict in a Sociocratic School
Conflict is hard, can lead to rifts in relationships, and also make an organization crash and burn. It can be all too easy to push disagreements under the rug, ignore intense feelings in order to keep going with running the business and accomplishing the goals of an organization.
Comparing Robert’s Rules and Sociocracy: How Consent Decision-Making Solves Some Problems From Parliamentary Procedure
The word democracy comes from the Greek “demos”, and is the shared rule of the people. The original meaning of democracy is a very large umbrella, of which majority rules is only one subset. Sociocracy, on the other hand, derives from “socios,” and means “the rule of the associates.” Sociocracy is one form of democracy as it could be, based on consent.
Clarity and empowerment: What is a domain?
Domains combine clarity with flexibility, small groups with big picture thinking and alignment, empowerment of groups and individuals with responsibility. It’s a design pattern that we can use indefinitely – with a place for everything and everything in its place.
Reiterating Sociocratic Models for Culturally-Competent Inclusion, Accessibility, Accountability, and Transparency (Sophie Xu)
Sophie Xu explores how to center historically and currently marginalized voices — especially those of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) — in existing and innovative sociocratic framework. She grapples with and examines the births of sociocracy, its linkage to whiteness, and how to render its core, identifying, and groundbreaking norms (e.g. consent-based decision-making) culturally-competent.
Conflict as a tension to steer by
Conflict as a tension to steer by The unwritten rules in many groups are clear: Be nice, avoid conflict at all costs and, if a conflict arises, see it as a “personal problem” of one perhaps problematic individual. In sociocracy, we have the opportunity to see things...
Sociocracy’s potential in the process of collective (re-)awakening (Ellen Even)
If you are wondering how it could be possible for humanity to align its consciousness towards mutual understanding and fear-free development • If you are wondering why the combination of sociocracy’s clear rules and its great potential for empowerment enables the emergence of these processes • If you are interested in some practical examples of how you can nurture this culture, feel welcome to join my discussion!
So, you want to practice sociocracy with children? (Hope Wilder)
Sociocracy is easily picked up by children with practice. This presentation will focus on steps to take to practice sociocracy with children in small groups, from finding a children’s domain to practicing consent decision making together.
Egg or hen – Sociocracy: an organizational approach or a manifestation of a mindset? (Armin Sieber)
Encouraged by positive experiences with various new forms to organize a school, we finally decided on Sociocracy 3.0. The organic adaptability of S3.0 provided a framework to incorporate useful elements from other approaches and, at the same time, to meet the need for orientation and “simplexity” in our VUCA world. So for us, it was egg first, maybe? Insights and questions based on our multi-year trip.
Conflict resolution in schools by consent and NVC consciousness (Magdalena Sendor)
If you say school you can say conflicts. It is life, it is normal. Since NVC and sociocracy have crossed my way, in this order, I am in the point of not being afraid of conflict even when the group is involved. With NVC which prioritizes connection and sociocracy who takes care about effectiveness for the group I find myself well equipped in front of tension and quarrels.
5 Ways you’re already using restorative practices
5 Ways you’re already using restorative practices and how to become even more restorative when using sociocracy “Don’t tell anyone else we’ve trained, but this is by far the most restorative school I’ve ever seen.” I was shocked to hear that from the...
Sociocracy with Children and Other People
Sociocracy with Children and Other People Lessons Learned about Effective Meetings and Community Building I deeply believe that children deserve the same respect as adults, and to that end, I started a learning community where every member has a voice, and we aim to...
Better time management in meetings – with sociocracy
Longing for better time management in meetings? Curious what sociocracy has to offer? Learn how to keep meetings short and productive.
La Croisée des Chemins: A school using sociocracy
La Croisée des Chemins, or Crossroads, is a cultural center located in Dijon as well as the first democratic free school in France. It uses #sociocracy!
Roles, jobs and salaries in sociocracy
On what basis do we decide salaries in sociocracy? Is it based on the sum of all roles? But how does that work? Or are there traditional “positions” in sociocracy too?
Building Sociocracy into Morey Flextech High School
A presentation by Will Gowen. Two years of building student agency at a small public charter school in rural Michigan, USA. Learn about the first two years of a newly started public charter high school that attempted to utilize different democratic methods to give students voice and choice in their schooling. Eventually landing on sociocracy, this high school utilizes sociocratic methods both in the classroom and for school governance. Hear about our successes, challenges and opportunities for growth!
Sociocracy in Schools
Presentation by Hope Wilder. Case study from Pathfinder in Durham, NC. How does consent decision-making work on the ground with ages 5-14? What does sociocracy look like when including the whole school community? Hope Wilder will discuss implementation of sociocracy in a self-directed learning community with Board, Staff, Parent, Community, and Member’s (children’s) circles.
Sociocracy and Permaculture Design in a School Setting
A presentation by Andreas Jonsson. How can we integrate Sociocracy with Permaculture Design to get things done effectively and sustainably, and at the same time learn a lot? Andreas is a Permaculture Designer & Teacher. He works as a selected School Head Master at Holma – a school for Adult Education, which is run with Sociocracy and built on the Permaculture Ethics & Principles. It caters to around 200 students over the year.
Enkindle Village School
Enkindle Village School is the first independent democratic school in North Queensland, Australia. Egalitarian in nature, the school is founded on democratic principles, with the belief that everyone affected by a decision should have a voice in that decision.
Pathfinder
A school in North Carolina (USA)
Sociocracy & Montessori
What do Sociocracy and Montessori have in common?
Sociocracy Handbook: Many Voices One Song
The practical sociocracy handbook written by the co-founders of Sociocracy For All. 300 pages full of real-life support!
Morey Flextech school
A project-based learning school that just started adopting socoicracy
Sociocratic elections of a class representative
A booklet for teachers who want to try out sociocratic elections with children. By Lisa Praeg
Holma – a permaculture folk high school
A permaculture folk high school in Sweden with a full mission circle.
Self-determination – only with co-determination
(By Simona Zäh, Switzerland. Translated from German original) In my last blog entry, I pleaded for more self-determination in schools - and only in passing did I mention that one of the basic conditions for self-determined learning is participation. In the following,...
A permaculture school in Sweden
Andreas Jonsson is showing us around in a sociocratically run permaculture school in Sweden.
The Art of community
A presentation and interview with Gregory Rouillard on his take on sociocracy.
Sociocracy in schools (webinar recording)
Democratic education matters
Presenter: Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard https://youtu.be/8wP030A_AtQ
Integrale Tagesschule Winterthur
ITW is a non-profit private school and the main ingredients of the operating culture are Solution Focused Approach, Nonviolent Communication and Spiral Dynamics integral extended by elements of Teal practices.
Pulse
The Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) is a community of faculty leaders in the life sciences from higher education institutions.
El Roser
We are a mix cooperative school (composed of working members and consumer members). We started working with sociocracy from the very beginning of the foundation of the cooperative.
Enkindle Village School
We are a new democratic school opened in Townsville in 2019. We use a sociocratic school circle model from the ground up, from the development of the school through to initial implementation.
Unico school diagram
Circle diagram of the Unico school in Switzerland
